Hi, any advice on how to stop my 14 week Cockapoo from jumping up at strangers when out on walks. She is pretty good in the home and we are working on stopping jumping when visitors call but don't know how to approach this when out on a walk. Being cute, fluffy and small most people are happy with her excited greetings and some encourage it, but realise this won't be the case when she's big and muddy.
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When you work out how to train the strangers then do let us all know!
One way I have found that can help is to shove a treat into their hand and ask them to get my dog to sit before giving it to him. Some are really good at it but others hold the treat far too high and this causes the dog to get over excited and jump up more. I have been working on this by raising the treat really high when I am working on sits with him so that he is used to it and will wait in the sit for it to arrive.
Another one is when you tell the stranger that the dog is "quite shy". Do they take things slowly and let him come to them? NO! They shove their hand over his head go give him a pat which terrifies him (he has probably been grabbed by the scruff in his past). Or, if he avoids them, they chase him to the end of his lead to prove what dog lovers they are
Rant over. Do try giving them a treat and see if that helps.
One way I have found that can help is to shove a treat into their hand and ask them to get my dog to sit before giving it to him. Some are really good at it but others hold the treat far too high and this causes the dog to get over excited and jump up more. I have been working on this by raising the treat really high when I am working on sits with him so that he is used to it and will wait in the sit for it to arrive.
Another one is when you tell the stranger that the dog is "quite shy". Do they take things slowly and let him come to them? NO! They shove their hand over his head go give him a pat which terrifies him (he has probably been grabbed by the scruff in his past). Or, if he avoids them, they chase him to the end of his lead to prove what dog lovers they are
Rant over. Do try giving them a treat and see if that helps.
Thanks, our puppy trainer suggested this as well, but I find it quite difficult. Either I can't get to them quick enough and she's already jumped or I'm too embarrassed to be honest. Problem not so bad if she's on a lead as I have some control but when she's off the lead I can't get to people before her. I'm hoping that perhaps when she's older she will understand 'off' and I can shout this to her before she gets to them. What do you think?
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Maybe rather than training off, you could train a solid recall, so she comes back to you rather than approach them? The recall would be useful in other situations and is a really important training lesson.
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I expect you already practice it at Puppy Classes? Try enlisting the help of any dog walking acquaintances. I asked all my regular dog walking friends to completely ignore a foster dog that I was training. Mind you he was not a fourteen week old cutie pie
I've been working hard with recall so maybe that is the way to go. Would be good practice with distractions as well - although not terribly confident my chicken will be more enticing than friendly strangers. Unfortunately we don't know anyone with a dog. We do make the effort to go to busier places with her sometimes and certainly did this loads for socialising reasons.
Another question I have is around barking and whining when left on her own. We have gradually built up the time she is on her own. We used to just sit hidden in garden for 10 mins and have now built up to between 1-2 hours. She is always taken for a decent walk before we leave her and make sure she has been to the toilet. She is then put in her crate on our landing. We leave radio on and stay around but out of sight for about 5-10 minutes until she has settled. She whines for about 5 mins and then settles. However when we return we can hear her yapping and whining before we enter the house, we don't know for how long this has been going on for. She has access to water in her crate and is never desperate for toilet when released. As her crate is on the landing where she sleeps at night, she is not aware that we have gone out and I was wondering whether this would help if she knew we weren't in the house so there was no need to bark to get our attention. I am also wondering whether she would be happier if left downstairs but not in crate. I'm 95% confident of her not peeing and we could leave her with kongs and her chew toys. Would welcome your advice and any suggestions.
Another question I have is around barking and whining when left on her own. We have gradually built up the time she is on her own. We used to just sit hidden in garden for 10 mins and have now built up to between 1-2 hours. She is always taken for a decent walk before we leave her and make sure she has been to the toilet. She is then put in her crate on our landing. We leave radio on and stay around but out of sight for about 5-10 minutes until she has settled. She whines for about 5 mins and then settles. However when we return we can hear her yapping and whining before we enter the house, we don't know for how long this has been going on for. She has access to water in her crate and is never desperate for toilet when released. As her crate is on the landing where she sleeps at night, she is not aware that we have gone out and I was wondering whether this would help if she knew we weren't in the house so there was no need to bark to get our attention. I am also wondering whether she would be happier if left downstairs but not in crate. I'm 95% confident of her not peeing and we could leave her with kongs and her chew toys. Would welcome your advice and any suggestions.
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It all depends if she is yapping to be let out of the crate or yapping to get your attention.
Have you ever let her out of the crate when she has been fussing? If so that has taught her to fuss to get herself out of the crate. In this case she may well settle elsewhere when left. If she is yapping to get your attention then she is showing signs of being over bonded with you.
Over bonding is caused by the dog having access to attention whenever they feel the need. It is much better to give attention when it is not being sought and withhold it when it is being sought. To do this you have to pay attention to your pup when she is lying quietly, or playing by herself. Ignore her when she is being naughty to get your attention or following you around or whining etc etc. They are both quite hard to do!
If you leave her elsewhere from her crate then do expect some damage or toileting accidents but you may fend these off with Kongs etc and toilet breaks before you out etc.
Have you ever let her out of the crate when she has been fussing? If so that has taught her to fuss to get herself out of the crate. In this case she may well settle elsewhere when left. If she is yapping to get your attention then she is showing signs of being over bonded with you.
Over bonding is caused by the dog having access to attention whenever they feel the need. It is much better to give attention when it is not being sought and withhold it when it is being sought. To do this you have to pay attention to your pup when she is lying quietly, or playing by herself. Ignore her when she is being naughty to get your attention or following you around or whining etc etc. They are both quite hard to do!
If you leave her elsewhere from her crate then do expect some damage or toileting accidents but you may fend these off with Kongs etc and toilet breaks before you out etc.
Thanks Gypsysmum. It really is difficult to know what is going on - much like trying to understand why my baby daughter kept crying all the time all those years ago!! I guess she is a baby too and we just need to muddle through perhaps. I'm going to borrow a video and hope that that might enlighten us a little. I do try to reward 'good behaviour' ie. playing on her own and settling on her own and try hard to ignore attention seeking behaviour, although not sure how good I am at it. I do think that she is quite attached to me - apparently she whines for a while when I leave her with my husband. She is not generally a yappy dog, noises outside and telephone etc don't seem to bother her - well not when we're home anyway. Hopefully the video recording will help.
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Leaving and returning should be unemotional affairs. If we kiss and cuddle when we leave our puppy and do the same when we return it highlights the fact that we are "going" and have been "gone". Much better to ignore our dog before we go out and be cool when we come home. This applies to leaving the room too
Thanks. It would help if we lived in a bigger house I think. We only have a small house, with living/dining room and kitchen off of it, so we are always together. She does play really well on her own in the garden, which again is not very big and she doesn't have full access to it all the time because of toilet training. will carry on implementing your really helpful advice.
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Ah, you may have hit upon something. She can have you in her sights at all times. Try to make some arrangements where she cannot always see you. Or, perhaps, make lots of trips upstairs or just pop outside and in again so that she gets used to you being out of sight more.
Thanks. I think you're right. We have just fitted stair gate as she has now started climbing the stairs and I will make a point of frequently going up there and leaving her alone for short periods. Sorry I have another question! She is very good at going outside to toilet if door is open and if it's closed I do recognise the signs of her wanting to go outside ie wandering around and going near the door. But if I'm not on alert all the time (or upstairs) she will just go in kitchen. I was thinking of teaching her to 'bark' on command and then asking her to bark ever time she goes out - do you think this would work or is there something else I could try? Thanks for your time.
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Some people have a small bell on a ribbon hanging from the door handle and train their dog to nudge it and ring the bell if they want out. I haven't done it myself but there are bound to be YouTube videos.
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Yes, good idea.
Also when you do open the door make a big deal of it beforehand. Get her excited so that she thinks that getting excited and looking at you magically opens the door. Over time she should come to find you with an excited look on her face that, she thinks, works to get the door opened!
Also when you do open the door make a big deal of it beforehand. Get her excited so that she thinks that getting excited and looking at you magically opens the door. Over time she should come to find you with an excited look on her face that, she thinks, works to get the door opened!
Great, thank you. I've purchased the bells and she is already touching with her nose for me to open the door - not yet doing it independently but I'm sure she will. I will do the excited bit as well as would be really useful if she came to find me to'ask' to go out.
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